Devotionals for the Heart: Why we need to choose our friends wisely

Why We Need to Choose Our Friends Wisely
A devotional by Leslie Bake

“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”—Proverbs 12:26 (NIV)

Who we spend our time with determines who we become.

Birds of a feather flock together. Those who share similar values are drawn to one another and will influence each other.

My social circle in sixth grade consisted of two girls. We will call them “Carrie” and “Grace.” In seventh grade, a friend I had known in elementary school transferred to my school. We will call her “Mary.” Grace came from divorced parents and her mother lived in another state. Carrie came from a turbulent home. The four of us always ate lunch together.

Eventually, our personality differences in our friend group emerged. Mary and I were academically better than the other two and she was better socially. By seventh grade, Mary and I were two peas in a pod. The summer before our eighth-grade year, she lost her mother to breast cancer. She drifted from me during eighth grade and spent more time with Grace. It made sense. They were both motherless.

I took her rejection personally because I lacked the maturity to realize what was happening. “Carrie” was furious at our four-some split and clung to me while demonizing the other two. I allowed Carrie to define me and followed her down an unfortunate path of bad choices during high school. During our sophomore year of high school, Carrie introduced me to her boyfriend, a short-lived relationship. I thought nothing of him at that time, but a year later, he and I landed in the same chemistry class.

As a junior in high school, I had yet to understand who Jesus Christ was or my identity in Him, even though I followed my parents to church on Sundays. Does any average American teenager know who he or she in Christ? Does he or she spend time reading The Holy Bible? Social relationships at that age are defined less by religious values and more by academics and extracurricular activities.

This guy and I dated, but for all wrong reasons and then said “I do” for wrong reasons. He mocked the Lord and I wanted to change his beliefs so that he would honor the Lord. That didn’t work so well.

We followers of Jesus need to remind ourselves in any stage of life and relationship forming that, as Scripture says in Psalm 1:1-2 (NIV), “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” We will live blessed, joyful lives if we form deeper relationships with those who are also believers.

We need to walk away from the wicked. We need to remove ourselves from the company of those who mock the Lord. We must not walk in step with the wicked or entertain those with hardened hearts toward the Lord. They have no intention to repent to God and ask forgiveness for their sins. They enjoy their sins.

Does this feel judgmental? Perhaps stay in bad relationships because we think: What if they feel rejected? What if we make a bad impression? What if this costs us a job? If we are studying and meditating on God’s word, we will not want to be in the company of mockers or the wicked.

Our job as believers is to influence others for the Lord, not to allow others to influence us with their deception, false beliefs and bad attitudes. How do we discern if our time with those who don’t know the Lord is benefiting them or hurting us? It’s either one or the other.

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in discerning who to spend time with and who to avoid. Clarity will come when you have spent enough time with the Lord because He may remove individuals from your circle of influence. Godly friends will encourage you to draw closer to God rather than hinder your relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit in you will attract other righteous people and repel those with less than pure motives. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s protecting your peace.

Some of us have a tendency to form toxic relationships based on our own neediness and dysfunction. That’s why our relationship with Jesus Christ must be our top priority. Everything else in our lives flows from this source of our Savior’s unconditional, pure and enduring love for humankind.

The challenge, then, is to develop the discipline of consistent study and meditation. That’s not so easy, even for those who are actively pursuing a deeper relationship with the Lord. In an age of sound bites, headlines, Instagram reels, and social media scrolling, meditating requires reading, thinking, and reviewing what we are learning in God’s Word (The Holy Bible). It also means praying about how we must change and grow so we will live how God lead us and wants us to live.

Some relationships were never meant to be long term. The Lord brings relationships into our lives for a season—sometimes to test us, other times to minister to us. Proverbs 12:26 also reminds us that the righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Carrie and I kept in contact during my undergraduate college years. She did not attend college. During a challenging period of my young adult life, she disappeared and I haven’t heard from her in 30 years. Grace disappeared after high school graduation. Mary lives in the Midwest, and I live in the southeast, but we message each other regularly and giggle like we’re in seventh grade again. Our “feathers” never changed.

The Lord also taught me a hard lesson in that first marriage: Don’t ever date or marry someone who does not already honor the Lord. Walk away from the wicked and don’t look back. I hope you can learn from my mistakes and make better choices for your own life as you strive to live for Christ.

Let’s Pray:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us make wise choices in who we surround ourselves with, who we choose to spend time with and who we date and marry. Help us to develop a hunger for Jesus as our Savior, first, before our relationships with humans. Help us make You a higher priority, even if that results in loneliness. Thank You, Lord, that You remain a safe place for us. Your unconditional love and faithfulness for humankind is endless. Thank You, Lord! Protect us from anyone trying to manipulate us into a friendship that benefits only them and leads us away from You. Build our circle of friends, Lord. Bless us with true friendships with people who genuinely love You and love us in a healthy and safe way. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

~*~
Song of Reflection #1: “Friends” by Michael W. Smith. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: “Safe” by Alisa Turner. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #3: “Friend of God” by Israel Houghton & Churchome Music. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #4: “How Beautiful” by Twila Paris. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Leslie Bake grew up Lutheran in Des Moines, graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with an undergraduate degree in English, and with a new understanding of what a relationship with the Lord could look like. 

She spent a few years reporting and editing in small town journalism and then began pursuing a master’s degree at Iowa State University in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Then she got married and later went through a divorce, which deepened her relationship with God and transformed her life.

Leslie taught English as a second language for three years at Kansas State University, then returned to writing and earned a master’s degree in creative non-fiction in Pittsburgh. Her memoir will eventually be published. It details the process of how the Lord created beauty from the ashes of divorce.

Pittsburgh is also where she met and married her second husband. They are now the parents of two wonderful children—one in fifth grade and one in first grade.

Leslie and her husband make their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Leslie has been a stay-at-home mom for the past 11 years and actively growing her writing career alongside her two growing children.

She now maintains a monthly blog of her own and is working toward expanding her writing ministry on Substack. Her heart’s deepest desire is to help others connect with God through writing.

~*~
Connect with Leslie:
Substack: lesliebake.substack.com
E-mail address: Leslie.bake@yahoo.com

Devotionals for the Heart: How difficulties help us grow stronger

Don’t Deviate from the Difficult
A devotional by Sharon Musgrove

“Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.”

—James 1:2-4 (TLB)

When my son, John, was around eight months old, he was making strong headway toward being independently mobile by pulling himself up from sitting to standing. Not really crawling yet, still he was making progress. And then Zachary arrived.

Cousin Zachary was six months older than John and he was walking. In those weeks while Zachary stayed with us, John quit trying to crawl, devoting all his energy to becoming ambulatory. John was no longer content with his unhurried pace of development, suddenly a fire was lit to be upright.

But it turns out that crawling is beneficial to both muscular and psychological maturity. Skipping this stage is thought to inhibit full brain development. When we, like my young son, see someone succeeding at something we want for ourselves, we can be tempted to take the shortcut. However, bypassing the difficult route requires of us a couple things: deviation and double-down.

Deviation might look like shifting priorities, shirking responsibility, quitting current tasks, and avoiding accountability. It might mean breaking promises, or not being completely honest. Maybe deception...even if just self-deception.

Double-down is the extra energy required to get somewhere faster than normal. Symptoms could be longer work hours, skipping breaks, feeling driven, irritability, or feeling put-upon.

Achievements arrived by shortcut methods are typically short-lived because they lack the muscle of steadfastness to maintain the level of success attained. The shortcut is also short-sighted. Our maturity requires that we go through the challenges that build strength of character. While it’s human nature to choose the least painful routes or be tempted to skip ahead, the very process of falling down and getting back up develops the stability we need to withstand the next level of growth.

In his letter to fellow followers of Jesus Christ, James suggests that we can consider the hard way through life as the best way due to the amount of spiritual muscle we achieve along the way. Difficulties produce patience. And patience helps us endure through every future challenge. It’s a strength we take with us on the rest of our journey.

My little son John took many tumbles in his efforts to walk. At some point, though, he found himself on his hands and knees and realized he could crawl after all. He didn’t stay on all fours for long, but it was there that he got what he needed to advance toward his next adventure.

When we find ourselves knocked down, it’s best we be honest with ourselves about where we are and why. We are not completed yet. And there’s no shame in continuing to be a work-in-progress. Rather we can be happy about the opportunity to practice a while longer! Before we know it, a greater level of challenge will come and we will be glad God was developing such strength in us.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, You know what is best for us and You direct us to walk in the way we should go. Help us to remember that Your ways are higher (wiser) than our ways and that we do well to trust You...always. Thank You for walking along side us in our challenges. Thank You for not abandoning us...especially in our foolishness. Continue to guide our steps and to bless our spiritual muscles as we follow You. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Walk With You” by Michael Bethany. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Sharon Musgrove has a diverse background in business, fitness, and health industries. This background led her to a unique position writing curriculum and teaching for two private, Christ-based, residential recovery programs. Both programs primarily served women in the homeless community. 

Sharon has traveled multiple times to Kenya, serving on medical teams and teaching in the rural Maasai communities. She was privileged to participate in leadership camps for maturing young women. These annual camps have a mission of encouraging and empowering the impoverished, underprivileged, and often abused young Maasai girls.

Identifying personally with the brokenness of the women she’s served, Sharon sees the great need for encouragement and connection. Within ministries served, Sharon has witnessed the transformative power of loving words spoken to the broken-hearted. Sharing God’s love and building cross-cultural communities has become her passion.

In her leisure time, Sharon enjoys nature, deep conversations, and a good story. She and her husband, Jeff, divide their time between Oregon and Hawaii. They have two grown children.

Currently, Sharon is encouraging others via her inspirational blog, writing devotionals for other websites, and is working on a nonfiction book titled The Whole-Of-Us: Putting Church Back Together.

~*~
Connect with Sharon:
Email: sharon@sharonmusgrove.com
Website: Sharonmusgrove.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sharon-Musgrove-Untethered-102208978041060
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonkmusgrove/

Devotionals for the Heart: Learning lessons in school and in life

When God is Your Teacher 
A devotional by Casey Wayne

“May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.”

—2 Peter 1:2-3 (NLT)

My daughter and I sat down to do her Kindergarten homework.

She was tired from her first few days of school. Everything is new and different. Every word and action expressed how much she didn’t feel like doing this anymore.

We get to a point where she has to write the number five. It's hard and she doesn't get it right the first time. There is clear tension between what she wants to do and what her body is willing to do. Tears stream down her face and she just wants to quit. I think we can all relate to getting to a place like this at some point in our life. A place where we feel like our brain can’t process anymore and our circumstances are overwhelming. We are no longer interested in learning because it is too hard. Our instincts draw us back toward what is familiar or comfortable.

Learning isn't always easy. Sometimes it can be fun, and even feel like a game. Other times, it can be painful—stretching you outside your comfort zone. Whether it's easy or not does not make the lesson any less beneficial. As a matter of fact, the lessons learned that come through struggles or making mistakes are often the ones that teach us the most. They are the ones that ingrain perseverance and strength. How we learn and grow as followers of Jesus Christ is the same. There can be times being sanctified comes easily and filled with exciting intrigue for what God will do next. Other moments it feels like God is stretching us too far.

As we learn, grow, and allow The Holy Spirit to work in us, we become more like Christ to our broken world. It is how we shine God’s light through the darkness (Matthew 5:16).

Through every season of life, God calls us to have a willingness to learn. Our willingness to be sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit is crucial for us to grow for God’s purposes. Every season of our life can be an opportunity for us to learn and grow our faith. Times of flourishing faith are an opportunity to learn how to share Christ with others more boldly with intention. During times of struggle there is opportunity to deepen your relationship with your Heavenly Father, growing your trust in God’s faithfulness.

Colossians 3:16 (ESV) says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Christ followers must be willing to be molded into a humble servant of the Lord through all life’s seasons.

Let’s Pray:

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your promise to provide us with wisdom and knowledge as we seek You. Give me a heart ready to learn and grow more like Christ. Sanctify me daily for Your purposes to bring You glory.

In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Less Like Me” by Zach Williams. Listen to it here.

~*~
Author Bio:

Casey Wayne is a wife and mother of two children.

She enjoys time with her family doing simple things like movie nights and cooking together.

As a devotional writer, Casey strives to share her story with relatable honesty, showing how God is faithful throughout the big and small moments of life.

She has a heart for encouraging the faith walk of other moms, praying they gain a deeper connection with our Heavenly Father.

Her family lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

~*~
Connect with Casey:
Website: https://www.caseywayne.org/
Blog: https://peaceoffaith.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caseylwayne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Peace.of.FaithCaseyWayne

Devotionals for the Heart: Discipleship

Delving into Discipleship
A devotional by Cyndi Staudt

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

Maybe you’ve seen the adorable video online that opens with an adorable puppy, Daisy, at the top of a flight of stairs. She is scared and apprehensive about going down the stairs.

Despite the encouragement of its owner, this sweet puppy paces across the landing anxiously, unsure of itself. Her whimpers of fear squeak out and this fear keeps her at the top, desperately wanting to join her owner at the bottom of the stairs yet not ready to tackle the mountain of stairs before her. Next thing you know, her older canine brother Simon runs to join her at the top and then bounds back down the stairs, showing her how easy it is. Yet, Daisy still isn’t brave enough to take the steps needed. Her brother runs back to the top of the stairs to show her again. This time, he waits until she takes her two front paws and places them both solidly on the first step. Then he runs down the steps again to show his sweet sister how to take the next steps.

Daisy remains at the top of the stairs, awkwardly paralyzed with her two front paws on the first step and her two back paws still safely planted on the landing. Simon comes back up the stairs and stands in front of her, staring her in the eyes as if to say, “Keep your eyes on me. I’ve got you.” Daisy turns her head and looks back, contemplating just going back to what’s familiar, the safety of the landing. And then she steps back up, just not ready to move forward. Simon bounds back up to the landing with her, not willing to leave her there. After a few more ups and downs, little Daisy finally dares to take one step, then the next, then the next. Simon stays by her side until she is all the way down, and cheering ensues from her family waiting at the bottom for her.

When I first became a Christian I felt a bit like Daisy – scared and unsure of taking steps away from what was familiar. It made no difference how messed up my “familiar” was; it was my comfort zone and I had learned how to survive in it. But God didn’t create us to remain in our comfort zone and He certainly didn’t save us to just survive. His goal is for us to thrive, to give us “more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), “to prosper us and not to harm us” (Jeremiah 29:11). But how was that going to happen for this newly-saved babe in Christ?

While we are guaranteed the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit, it helps. But let’s face it, it’s a must to also have fellow Christians to share our walk of faith with. That’s where you and I come in. At some point we were all a Daisy. But God wants and expects us to move into the role of Simon at some point. We need to be an encourager and leader and show a new believer how to take their first steps down the road of faith. We should “think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

Matthew 28:19 tells us to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” The dictionary defines “disciple” as “a follower or a student of a teacher or leader”. When we put our faith in Jesus, we are saved; but to become His disciple we need to start following His example and studying His teaching. Matthew 28 continues on in verse 20 to encourage us to “teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you”. While we are to introduce unbelievers to Jesus, we are also called to link arms with new believers and help them to take their first steps on their faith journey. In fact, we may have to walk with them for a few months or even years until they are ready to walk on their own. Then they too can move from being a Daisy to a Simon.

Where are you in your faith journey? Are you a Daisy – stepping gingerly into your newfound faith? Do you have a Simon in your life – a Christian mentor who can show you what steps to take and how and when to take them? If you need a mentor, start praying and ask God to reveal who that might be for you. Or have you moved out of your Daisy phase and are now ready to become a Simon to someone?

Can you think of someone in your life that needs to meet Jesus? Invite them to church with you. Do you know a new believer who might not yet have a mentor? Consult God and ask if you might be the one He has in mind to step into that role. No matter what stage you find yourself in, you have a role to play and a purpose to fulfill. Doing your part for God’s Kingdom will help others do theirs. And in this way we live out being the body of Christ!

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, help us to remember that our primary call while on Earth is to lead others to you and then help them take steps forward in their faith. As followers of Jesus, let us live our lives in a way that makes you attractive to others (Titus 2:10), giving them a desire to get to know you. May the example we set always demonstrate the love and grace that you freely extend and lead others to a deeper, more personal relationship with you. In Jesus’s mighty name I pray. Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Cyndi Staudt is a Jesus-loving, adrenaline junkie who is devoted to living her life for Jesus Christ until the day she is living with Him.  

With a passion for cultivating a craving for God’s Word, her devotions and Bible studies are saturated with faith and hope to stir your soul to connect with God in deeper, more intimate ways.

Through her writing she hopes to ignite your desire to read God’s Word, invite your heart to experience God’s love, and inspire you to live your live life “souled out” to the One whose love has no limits.

~*~
Connect with Cyndi:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/souledoutcyndi/

Devotionals for the Heart: Becoming

Becoming: How Our Love Relationship with God is a Work-In-Progress
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

Love can be wonderful—until we sabotage it with unrealistically high expectations and comparisons that our partner can never live up to.

Authentic love isn’t always extreme black or white, up or down—it’s that lovely middle-gray space in the middle, too. Sometimes it’s wild, passionate, and all-consuming, while other times it’s like a soft, cozy blanket, a shelter from life’s thunderstorms. Knowing this helps us love our partner (or parent, or child, or friend) better, and pivot more easily in times of difficulty. It helps us grow and learn, as well as gain wisdom and compassion.

When it comes to our relationship with God, it’s much the same.

We all have a unique, special relationship with God. Sometimes it’s a father-child kind of relationship, and sometimes it’s a best-friendship. Sometimes it’s a beautiful, complicated blend, and other times (on our end!) it feels a bit hands-off, dysfunctional, or unhealthily weighted. But the negatives are all on us—not God.

Yet, as we sometimes do with our marriages and other important human relationships, we expect “me and God” to be this perfect unit. While it is perfect from God’s end, as sinful humans, it can get a bit messy sometimes on our end. That can lead to some unraveling and drifting away.

It’s important to know God’s love for us never changes—ever. God is perfect, almighty. He’s the constant, ever-present Lord of the Universe we can count on who never fails us and never forsakes us.

But we humans are so fickle and imperfect. We float in and out of our love relationship with God over the course of a lifetime, even over the course of a single year. Sometimes we feel so close to Him it’s like bliss. Other times God feels so far away, and we start to doubt that love. “Does He really hear us?” we think. “Does He really care?”

We sabotage a good thing with our own doubt.

While God’s love for us is always perfect, our love for Him falls short. But it can be truly helpful to know our love relationship with God is a work in progress. Understanding that can be comforting—and draw us closer to Him in the end.

The Bible assures us Jesus was God’s only son, and through faith in Jesus we get the honor of becoming children of God. As John 1:12 (NRSV) reminds us, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”

But what does that actually mean, this notion of “becoming children of God”?

My friend and colleague Dr. Paul Harmon, who is a retired United Methodist pastor, recently reflected on this, noting that one of the most striking things about this passage is that the verb is not “be,” but “become.”

“Become” isn’t just a state of being, Harmon reflected, but an evolution. A growth. A process.

As Harmon wrote, “It is a relationship that is always in process, always seeking, always growing, always attuning itself to the will of God. As finite and sinful creatures we must constantly search for those values and impulses within us that are incompatible with Christ’s teachings, and thus not in keeping with God’s will. We must daily search for the answer to the constant question, ‘Is this God’s will, or is this my will?’”

On God’s end, that love is a given. On our end, though, our moods shift and change. We rise and fall with the days and the seasons.

Most people who have weathered many successful years of marriage or a close friendship have learned that love isn’t just an emotion but a verb. It’s a process, a constant striving, a commitment.

It’s the same thing with our relationship with God.

In close human relationships, there are things we can do to stay close to our loved one over the years: take time to be with them. Put their needs before our own. Bend to their will. Listen for their voice. Trust them.

It’s the same with God—we don’t know why things happen, but we trust He has a plan. We don’t always hear His voice, but we know He’s there. We sometimes prefer to walk our own path, but we know it’s better to heed His will than our own.

Similarly, we know it’s important to devote a good bulk of our time to Him, carving out regular moments to read the Bible, pray, bask in His creation, listen for and to Him.

Those things help us in the process of becoming closer to Him, just like those things help us draw closer to the people we love here on earth.

We are God’s children, loved and free in Him! That’s a given. But the little things we do to draw closer on a daily basis help make that relationship deeper, better, stronger, and more fulfilling.

How are you working to be close to the Lord right now? Is there something more you could do?

Let’s Pray: Lord God, help us work as hard to get close to you as we do in the important human relationships we enjoy. Help us know your love is bigger than our doubts and mightier than any human relationship, and just as fulfilling. Help us work on becoming better for you so we can serve you well and glorify you daily. In your holy and precious name we pray, amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian journalist, author, blogger, editor, and devotional writer. For the last decade, she’s been the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism, which has won 118 journalism awards during her tenure. 

She is the author of Feed My Sheep: A 40-Day Devotional to Develop a Heart for Hunger Ministry (2019) and More Like Jesus: A Devotional Journey (2018) and editor of Stories of Racial Awakening: Narratives on Changed Hearts and Lives of South Carolina United Methodists (2018), all from her newspaper’s Advocate Press.

She is a seasoned speaker and contributor to Crosswalk, Christianity.com, and the United Methodist News Service, among many others. She has a weekly faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com and is part of the team at Wholly Loved Ministries.

Represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency, she is seeking a publishing contract for her two contemporary women’s fiction novels, The Memory Garden and Tangled Roots. 

The Memory Garden won the 2018 Genesis Award for Contemporary Fiction from American Christian Fiction Writers, and Tangled Roots placed in Contemporary Romance at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in 2019.

Married, Brodie has four children and stepchildren and lives in Lexington, South Carolina.

~*~
Connect with Jessica:
Website: https://www.jessicabrodie.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaJBrodie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicajbrodie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicajbrodie/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicajbrodie/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shiningthelightjessicabrodie/

Devotionals for the Heart: Dreams

When I Grow Up …
A devotional by Glynis Becker

"Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture."

–Psalm 100:1-3 (NASB)

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I was a child who loved all things related to air and space: planets, stars, the Space Shuttle, airplanes. I dreamed about being an astronaut, but dreams and reality do not always coincide. The truth is, I am not a risk-taker at all, so even riding roller coasters at the fair is a no-go for me. There is no way I’d actually take a rocket to space. I realized at a pretty young age that I would never be able to introduce myself as an astronaut.

I also spent some time wanting to be a doctor or nurse. I love science, but the more I learned about biology the more I realized I wouldn’t be able to handle that at all. My family, who has seen me almost pass out from someone just talking about their surgeries or ailments, thinks it's funny that I ever even thought I could work in the medical field. So I guess I’ll never be able to introduce myself as a doctor, either.

In this society our entire identities can be wrapped up in what we do. We often, probably too often, place our search for meaning and legacy in the job or position we hold. If it’s one the world considers prestigious, then we are “successful.” If not, a person might feel they have nothing important to offer.

In the kingdom of God no one is insignificant. No one has any more than anyone else to offer to God. He has given us life and breath and we all we can do is give those back to Him. You and I may not make major contributions to science, or write bestselling books, or be loved by millions as a celebrity, but lucky for us, our eternal identities don’t depend on any of that.

Do you feel like you’ve failed or are insignificant? Offer Him yourself today. Give Him this moment and ask Him to breathe new life into your identity. No matter your age, no matter how many dreams have been crushed by your shortcomings or the circumstances you live in.

I now have a new dream for when I grow up. I want to see myself the way Jesus sees me. I want my identity to wrap itself in His. And I want to see others that way as well.

Let’s pray: Dear God, I give You everything. I don’t care if I am a success or a failure in this world, I just want to be who you have designed me to be. I love you and want to rest in Your love for me. Be with me today and always. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

~*~
Author Bio:

Glynis Becker writes devotions and inspirational fiction, hoping someday to have a published novel on her resume. 

She has co-written several screenplays, including the film Sinking Sand, available on DVD and digital streaming.

Glynis, whose childhood was spent all over the country as an Air Force brat, has called South Dakota home for many years, along with her husband and two teenage children.

When she’s not writing or reading, she is watching more television than she should and crocheting. 

You can find her at www.glynisbecker.com.